


His Best Friend

by TailorNorata



Series: Brothers and Friends [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale pack, Alternate Universe, College Student Derek Hale, College Student Stiles Stilinski, Derek and Peter were raised as brothers, Derek is trying his best to be the one with some emotional intelligence, Lawyer Peter Hale, M/M, POV Derek, Stiles and Derek have been best friends since kindergarten, Stiles and Peter are idiots, but it's difficult, established steter, oh yes and they kill a nest of gnome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 01:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18436118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TailorNorata/pseuds/TailorNorata
Summary: Derek asks how things are going between Peter and Stiles and he definitely did not intend to get pulled into being their therapist, but in for a penny, in for a pound.





	His Best Friend

Derek heard Peter and Stiles come back to the Hale house from their trip to help Stiles’ dad paint his kitchen while he was storing away groceries in their kitchen.

After roughly two decades of the same colors the Sheriff had decided it was time for some changes. Stiles seemed to think that was a good idea and had come into town to help his dad and use that opportunity to spent time with Peter and Derek.

Now after they had finished the kitchen the plan was to relax a little and later have a nice dinner together.

Stiles gave Peter a soft kiss and grinned “I’ll go take a shower, feel like saving water?”

Peter chuckled and pulled Stiles in for another quick kiss.

“Sounds tempting but I promised Derek to help him track down the goblin nest.”

Stiles nodded with more seriousness.

“Yes, right, that’s important. I mean, gladly nobody got hurt so far, but still, those fuckers can get dangerous when they overpopulate.”

Peter nodded and gave Stiles a playful slap on the ass.

“Go get clean, we probably won’t need that long.”

Stiles chuckled and made his way upstairs while Peter went into the kitchen to discuss their plan.

~*~

Derek and Peter were walking side by side, following the trail three or four goblins had left behind.

After a while Derek cleared his throat.

“So…you and Stiles…I can’t really ignore the fact he is the longest relationship you have had in a while…maybe ever. I mean, five months…that…that’s something, right?”

Peter kept his eyes on the forest floor and the surrounding underbrush.

“It’s not a relationship. And I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Derek frowned but pointed out a broken off twig, to which Peter gave him a short nod and they moved in that direction.

The most frustrating thing about goblins really was the fact they just smelled like forest. And they also tended to live in forests. So in their natural habitat it was difficult to follow them by scent, even with a sensitive nose.

So, regular tracking it was.

At least the wolf’s predator instincts meant it was somewhat entertaining to try and hunt them down.

They got a little further and then Derek decided he could not leave the topic yet.

“So, does Stiles know you don’t consider whatever you two are doing a ‘relationship’? And why exactly don’t you want to talk about it right now? Is he starting to bore you and you are planning the overdue breakup?”

This time Peter glared at his brother.

“Listen, let’s get rid of those goblins and talk later, alright?”

Derek pressed his lips together for a moment and furrowed his brows but then nodded, seemingly resigned to the fact Peter was not going to give him an actual answer right now.

They tracked the goblins down and Peter made short work of them, biting, and clawing at them viciously, ignoring the sharp little teeth they tried to sink into his flesh.

Derek mainly made sure to catch those that managed to escape the masacre Peter was creating.

When all was done they stood amidst little, vaguely humanoid corpses strewn across the forest floor around the burrow they had chosen as their nest.

Derek could still smell the decomposing corpses of the foxes which probably had built that burrow and lived in it before the goblins had decided it was theirs.

“I wish goblins were the kind of supernatural creatures that turn into dust when killed…” he mumbled.

Peter nodded “It’d be a lot easier if all corpses took care of themself.”

But since these didn’t they started tidying up the mess.

~*~

On their way back they were walking in silence for quite a while.

It didn’t take a genius to understand Peter had some sort of problem with how things were between him and Stiles. But Derek had not seen any of that in Peter’s behavior with Stiles himself, so clearly Peter felt the need to keep it hidden.

That wasn’t really who Peter was though.

Yes, he was manipulative sometimes and did not always tell the whole truth if it benefitted him, he also was a genius at twisting words to the point where he could tell you one thing factually and something entirely different emotionally.

But Peter was not in the business of deceiving his bedmates.

All that worried Derek. He had known from the beginning this situation could easily blow up into their faces, considering how aversed to commitment and a serious relationship his brother was. And considering how fixated Stiles could get on a person if they actually measured up to his standards.

He’d never forget all the times Stiles had tried to perfect his ten year plan to get Lydia Martin to fall in love with him…

The relief Derek had felt when Stiles had gotten over Lydia and actually become friends with her. He didn’t like to see his best friend unhappily in love.

Suddenly Peter’s voice pulled Derek out of his concerned contemplations.

“It’s Stiles who keeps reminding me this isn’t a relationship by the way. And I am absolutely not about to break up with him.”

Derek stopped in his tracks.

“What do you mean?”

Peter stopped as well but didn’t turn around to look at Derek.

“Every moment I spent with Stiles I’m on the brink of telling him I love him Derek. I understand you are worried I might break your best friend’s heart, but you really don’t have to be. As long as Stiles feels like keeping me around, even if it’s just for sex, I will not do anything to lose him.”

Derek stared at Peter’s back, the posture, it was resigned, just looking at those sagging shoulders made him feel almost heartbroken.

“That…is definitely not what I expected.”

He got a dry laugh in response.

“Me neither. But he got me. That first night really. After we were done we lay in bed talking till morning and all I could think was that I had never felt so much myself and so happy at the same time. And at that point I had thought that was maybe just the excitement of a new person that I really liked and it would get less intense once I got used to him…but I was so wrong. After that second night I wanted to declare my undying love for him and I was ready to check myself into a mental hospital because of how ridiculous that sounded in my own head.

When Stiles left that weekend I felt like he had taken a vital part of me with him.

I forced myself to not overdo it with texting him, but my work was suffering from how much I only wanted to be on the phone with Stiles.

Then the weeks went by and it got more bearable, I convinced myself it had just been a weird, crazy, intense honeymoon feeling and now I was over it and things would go back to normal.

But then he came to visit when his father was celebrating his birthday and spent the night here and everything was back just as before if not worse. That time when he left I straight up felt like crying. No, if I am being totally honest, I did cry, a little.”

Peter turned partly and glanced up at Derek, who was not very surprised to see how angry Peter was.

“Do you know how frustrating that was? How humiliating? A part of me actually started to resent Stiles for making me feel like that. I have fought all my life to be independent and this little asshole comes in and suddenly it’s like I am wearing a leash that is constantly pulled into his direction.”

Derek had no idea what to say. The way he felt for Braeden was nothing like that. He definitely loved her, but he had always liked the feeling of belonging to her…

Peter continued his rant though, getting more and more dramatic.

Derek would not have been surprised if Peter had pulled at his deep v-neck and started a broadway worthy rendition of ‘Agony’.

It was close.

“I love having him here with me, but it’s so painful. I am holding him in my arms and while I am doing that I feel sad because I know he will leave again. That is just ridiculous.

I get hit on by people I would otherwise immediately say yes to but all I can think of is that I’d rather be with Stiles.

I actually fucked a guy to get my mind off Stiles and it didn’t work. It felt like eating cardboard when you want steak.

I am scared, okay?

All of this is scary. Because Stiles sometimes casually reminds me we are not together. He tells me about the people he goes out with, asks me if I met anybody interesting…he calls me a friend when he tells others who I am. A woman hit on me yesterday and he told me if I wanted to get on that we could meet back up at the house later.

And I don’t blame him.

When I was in college, when I was his age I took every offer I liked, I was probably a lot sluttier actually. And considering how much Stiles and I have in common, considering how many sexual partners I burned through back then it’s only a matter of maybe one or two more months before Stiles will be bored of me and move on.

Meanwhile I really don’t know if I can recover when that happens.

I have never felt like this.

I don’t know what to do…and the last thing I want to do is burden Stiles with that.

I have no right to put that on him after he entered into this under the assumption it’d just be some casual sex and nothing more…”

Derek felt a headache approaching.

He had warned Stiles to be careful when it comes to Peter…he had never considered Peter could be the one who got his heart broken in this situation.

Then again, a no strings attached, months long, sexual relationship didn’t sound like his friend either. Sure, Stiles wasn’t necessarily opposed to one night stands or short, passionate flings from what Derek had heard over the last three years from his time in college, but when Derek saw the two together they seemed genuinely happy in each other’s company.

Maybe Stiles was more reminding himself than Peter that they weren’t in an actual relationship?

He felt like he needed to get the other side of the story here.

“I don’t really know what to say to this Peter. In some way I am glad you found someone you feel like that towards. Even if he might not feel the same…but obviously I would hope he does. And you might think you two are very similar, which is true when it comes to how intelligent, cunning, witty and funny you are. But I wouldn’t be too sure Stiles feels nothing for you. Maybe you should just talk to him.”

Peter raised his lips slightly in a snarl.

“Seriously Derek? ‘Tis better to have loved and lost: Than never to have loved at all’? I hate feeling like this! I hate being so damn vulnerable. You might be glad for me but I am absolutely not! I liked being an unattached asshole. I can’t afford that kind of weakness in my life. What if someone uses this against me?”

Of course if anybody was going to be dramatic about this it was Peter.

“You are a lawyer, not a mobster. And neither you nor Stiles are mere humans. You have seen him spar with me and Laura, he can defend himself.”

He looked at Peter and recognized something very raw in the expression he had.

His brother really seemed scared.

Derek focused on Peter’s heart, breathed in a little deeper and found his thought confirmed.

His brother wasn’t the kind to get scared easily, so he wasn’t used to it.

That was probably a big part of why he was lashing out.

Peter needed to have everything under his control to feel okay. It made sense this would cause him great stress.

“I will ask Stiles how he feels about you.”

Peter went pale “No.”

Derek shook his head.

“Don’t try to convince me I shouldn’t ask my best friend how he feels about my brother. Whatever you fear might happen I promise you, it won’t happen simply because me and Stiles had a chat about his feelings.”

After opening his mouth twice without saying anything Peter closed it again and looked away.

“When did you get that good at arguing…”

Derek chuckled while reassuming their way home, pushing Peter along with him.

“Guess some of you and Stiles bickering with me stuck. Come on, I’m starving.”

~*~

Dinner was good and Derek realized what a great actor Peter was. Not once did his facade crack while Stiles was around him.

He would have thought Peter had lied to him if he hadn’t smelled the fear, heard Peter’s heart rate back in the woods.

Somehow Peter controlled both of those as well.

Derek knew some werewolves practiced that, particularly those who might work in intelligence in some form or another…but he should have known Peter would have practiced it as well. He just hadn’t witnessed Peter using that ability first hand before.

After dinner Derek decided it was time to investigate this situation some more.

“Hey Stiles, I wanted to show you something, it’s in my room.”

He got a raised eyebrow but Stiles followed him.

Up in his room with Stiles Derek closed the door and pointed onto the bed while he himself sat down in his desk chair.

“Sit down.”

Stiles crossed his arms.

“What is this going to be Der? A therapy session?”

Derek rolled his eyes “Just sit down.”

With an expectant expression Stiles sat down and moved his hands in a sarcastic ta-daa gesture.

“Thank you” Derek said with seriousness before explaining the situation.

“I wanted to talk about your relationship with Peter.”

“Oh fuck no!” Stiles hissed at him and got up again to head towards the door.

Derek got up as well and placed one hand heavy but not painful on Stiles’ shoulder.

“I did not ask you to come up here to have an ‘I told you so’ moment Stiles. I genuinely want to know how you two are doing. Because I care about both of you and I want you to be happy. After all, you are my best friend and he is my brother.”

Stiles seemed to lose some tension and came back to sit on the bed.

“I understand but there isn’t much to say.”

Derek was not convinced, not even a little.

“And what was that knee jerk reaction about then?”

Stiles looked at Derek’s rock collection and shrugged.

“I mean…if we really have to get into it I guess you were kind of right. I like Peter a lot. Probably actually a lot more than he likes me.”

Derek doubted that somehow.

He didn’t say that though and instead asked the relevant question.

“Would you go so far as to say you love him?”

Stiles frowned.

“Why are you doing this Derek? It’s not really like you to push emotional conversations…”

That was true in general, but he was learning a lot about communicating his feelings and Stiles’ and Peter’s wellbeing was definitely a topic that he would not drop just like that.

“Humor me. Like I said. You two are my brother and my best friend. I care about both of you, despite my tendency, this is me, initiating an emotional conversation. Now would you please answer my question.”

Stiles stared at him for a few moments.

“Well…yeah? I guess…I don’t know dude…Peter makes me happy. Like stupid happy. But I know it won’t last. I’m not delusional about what I can expect from this relationship.”

That was not quite clear enough for him.

“I know this will be a strange question and maybe thinking about it is a little painful, but what is the most outrageous idea you have about how your and Peter’s future could go?”

Heat krept up Stiles’ cheeks.

“Are you really asking me if I fantasize about getting serious with Peter? I can’t, ok? I can’t think about Peter making me his mate. About marrying him… you are lucky I know you aren’t the kind of person to mock me, but you better explain why you are suddenly asking me all these questions.”

Derek contemplated if these words were enough. It sure did sound like Stiles was fantasizing about exactly that. He stared at his best friend for a few moments, watching him glare back, clearly still waiting for an explanation.

Yes, Derek decided, this was enough.

Theoretically maybe Stiles’ answer could mean something else but evading to outright answer something, throwing a counter question at Derek, it was so typically Stiles.

“You actually love him, huh?” he asked, calm and matter of factly.

Stiles’ face was red with both embarrassment and anger.

“You’re a fucking asshole…” he mumbled.

Derek smiled softly despite Stiles’ words.

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

He turned and left the room while he heard Stiles, in a perplexed tone, ask where he was going.

Derek went to find Peter and when he did he simply lifted his brother off the ground and threw him over his shoulder.

At first too surprised to say anything Peter cleared his throat “Uh…Derek, if this is supposed to be revenge for all the times I just picked you up, it won’t really work-”

“It’s not about that” Derek interrupted but didn’t elaborate.

He felt Peter twist a bit to see where exactly they were going but decided not to give him any clues to figuring out his plan sooner than he would on his own.

He actually made it three steps into his room with Stiles still standing there murmuring a dumbfounded “What the fuck” before Peter seriously tensed up.

“Oh no! You don’t get to do that Derek!”

Oh yes he did.

Peter started to seriously fight Derek’s hold on him and Derek decided he had accomplished what he needed, they were both in the room.

He threw Peter a good few meters into the room, past Stiles, and then utilized the moment of surprize to lock the door behind him.

As a final measure he leaned with his back against the door, just in case Peter tried to break it open.

Instead though Peter just landed in the middle of the room, turned around and gave Derek a momentary snarl before getting fully up, retracting his fangs and letting out a frustrated sigh.

When he spoke it sounded resigned.

“Are you serious, Derek?”

Derek shook his head and grinned with some slight frustration of his own.

“You better believe it Peter. We are not leaving this room until you two idiots talked about your feelings.”

Stiles and Peter eyed each other and Derek had a hard time not rolling his eyes at them.

They were both so annoyingly smart, how were they the ones being so difficult about this?

They were probably actually thinking too much about it.

Eventually Peter was the one to speak first.

“We don’t have to talk about this now Stiles. You and me together can absolutely knock Derek out and get out of here.”

Stiles’ eyes flickered from Peter to Derek and back.

He licked his lips.

“Tempting. But at this point we all have to acknowledge that there is something you and I actually should talk about. And pretending there isn’t will probably drive me crazy. It was easier to ignore before now…”

With another resigned sigh and sagging shoulders Peter nodded.

“You are right…I just…I wanted a little more time with you before this.”

Stiles went pale and Derek covered his eyes.

“Could you make this sound any more ominous? Stiles probably thinks you are trying to break up with him.”

“But I thought-”

Peter looked between Stiles and Derek with confusion and Stiles looked at Peter and Derek with confusion and concern.

Those idiots.

“Alright, for this one time let me be the one explaining something to the two of you.”

He pointed at them accusingly.

He was so done.

“You two are both being really stupid and in about ten minutes probably won’t believe how dumb you were being.”

“Rude” Stiles mumbled and Peter crossed his arms “Is there any other insult you feel like throwing our way?”

Derek shook his head.

“To spell it out for you. Stiles, Peter is in love with you, he had no idea his stone cold heart was capable of that emotion and that is why he is being a total jerk about it, because he is scared you will reject him and he won’t survive it.”

Before either of them could respond Derek continued.

“Peter, Stiles thinks he is just another one of your flings and that is why he is not allowing himself even the idea of being in a more serious and committed relationship with you, even though he clearly wants that. Now if you both could make up so we can all get back to our normal selves that’d be great.”

 

Silence folled his words.

 

Peter and Stiles stared at each other and Derek seemed forgotten.

“Is it true?” Stiles asked and Peter scowled.

“And if it were?”

Stiles looked down at his hands.

“I…”

Derek saw him swallow hard and blink tears away.

When he continued his voice sounded a bit choked.

“I’d be very happy…”

Peter’s face was unreadable, but when he spoke it was soft and careful, like he was afraid of what his words might turn into.

“All I want is to make you happy…I actually want that more- more than for me to be happy.”

Stiles laughed through the actual tears that were now rolling down his cheeks.

“We are idiots.”

Peter nodded with a small smile.

“So it seems.”

Derek was glad they had gotten there, but now he wanted some peace and quiet.

“You definitely were. Now that this has been all cleared up, please leave my room.”

He unlocked the door, opened it and waited for both of them to leave.

Stiles and Peter both looked like they wanted to say something but Derek just shook his head.

“Thank me later, out of my room now. I need a break from playing your therapist.”

They left the room and he closed the door behind them, locking it again.

He took a deep breath and just fell onto his bed with a noise of exhausted appreciation for the cozy embrace of his blankets and pillows.

He closed his eyes and his mind was about to actually relax when he started hearing the clearly identifiable noise of someone rocking Peter’s bed.

Those fucking assholes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this :)  
> If you want to make me happy leave a comment on your way out :3


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